1. Field of the Present Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to head gear used for protection as for instance helmets of various kinds such as those worn in sporting games, for example football, baseball and hockey, and those worn when using dangerous equipment such as skate boards, bicycles and motorcycles, and those worn by construction and mining workers. This disclosure relates more specifically to a workers hard hat that provides illumination and is able to provide various signals such as when in distress by those working in low light areas such as mines, or at night, as for instance when working on highway construction projects.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Plastino, US 20070226879, discloses a helmet having a vent assembly allowing fluid communication between an exterior of the helmet and an interior of the helmet. The vent assembly includes an open-ended elongated sleeve disposed on a frontal portion of the helmet, with the sleeve being in fluid communication with at least one aperture passing through to the helmet interior. In one embodiment, the elongated sleeve includes a first wall having at least one aperture therethrough, a second wall spaced from the first wall and having at least one aperture therethrough, at least one closed edge, and at least one open edge, defining an internal lumen. The at least one first wall aperture, at least one second wall aperture, and at least one inner shell aperture cooperate to allow fluid communication between an exterior and an interior of the helmet. An insert slidably receivable within the elongated sleeve lumen is provided.
Cao et al., US 20050174753, discloses a mining light having a semiconductor light source such as an LED or laser, a heat sink, a magnetic switch, a light reflective and focusing cone, and other features.
Musal, US 20040250339, discloses a helmet for protecting the head of a wearer during sporting activities, comprising a protective shell, vents formed in the protective shell, and a shutter plate positioned within the protective shell. The shutter plate has apertures conforming in dimension and position to the vent openings so that the apertures are in substantial alignment with the vents when the shutter plate is in a first position. The shutter plate is selectively moveable so that the vents are opened or closed.
Milton, US 20040090769, discloses a bicycle helmet with small safety lights built into the outer rim of the helmet.
Kuo et al., US 20020159250, discloses a safety hat having a plurality of soft or hard light emitting strips, and a control switch. The hat body is like a shade. The soft light emitting strips are adhered on the surface and two lateral sides of the hat body. The battery is formed on the soft light emitting strips. One end of the control switch is connected to an electrode of the battery, and another end thereof is connected to the power supply end of the light emitting strip. By the action of the control switch, the soft light emitting strip lights up or becomes extinguished.
Barnes, U.S. Pat. No. 7,311,413, discloses a lighting device for use with a helmet, having a fastening site and a plurality of lamps. A base member is employed and includes at least one support holding at least one lamp. A flexible sheath extends over the support, the lamp, and at least a portion of the base member to form an enclosure. The sheath possesses an opening to allow light to pass from the lamp to the exterior of the sheath. The sheath also includes an outer surface of frictional material to allow the sheath to be frictionally fixed in at least a first and second position at the surface of the helmet. A fastener links the sheath to the helmet.
Chen, U.S. Pat. No. 6,823,531, discloses a helmet with ventilation having at its front multiple slot air inlets; a circular air passage connected through those slot air inlets being provided to the peripheral of an inner lining; multiple expel holes connected through the interior of the helmet being provided to the air passage; an air outlet being provided on the rear of the helmet; an air inlet lid being covered up those slot air inlets; and an air inlet gate allowing air flow adjustment.
Davis, U.S. Pat. No. 6,328,454, discloses a lighting device for a safety helmet or the like used for recreational and industrial purposes wherein a plurality of blinking LEDs are disposed on the outer surface of the helmet. The only circuitry needed is a 3 volt battery, an On-Off Switch and wiring for interconnecting the LEDs.
Gregg et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,521, discloses a circuit on a curved surface where the circuit includes at least one circuit element on the curved surface, at least one conductive path on, and integral with, the curved surface, where the conductive path is connected to the circuit element, and circuitry for supplying power along the conductive path to the circuit element. The curved surface may be a helmet, in which case a plurality of pairs of light emitting elements may be provided thereon where the pairs emit light sequentially one pair at a time in order to maximize the brightness of the light emitted and maximize battery life. Also, a receiver for an infrared or ultrasonic signal may be provided such that the light emitting elements emit light in a certain manner as a result of the signal being received. Also provided is a method of forming at least one conductive path on a curved surface, such as on a helmet, where the method comprises aiming a beam of light to the curved surface, providing relative movement between the beam of light and the curved surface causing the beam of light to form a path on the curved surface, and laying conductive material on the path. The beam of light may be aimed at a mirror which bends the beam of the light to the curved surface, and the mirror may be moved by a stepper motor controlled by a computer. In addition, the curved surface may be moved by a stepper motor controlled by the computer.
Murakami, U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,513, discloses a helmet with a ventilating function including: a helmet shell having on an outer surface thereof a longitudinally extending outside air path is configured to introduce outside air thereinto from a front air inlet and discharge the same rearwardly from a rear air outlet to form an outside air flow that sucks inside air remaining in the helmet shell by its negative pressure to achieve ventilation. A path defining body defining the outside air path; and a rear deflector for facilitating release of an air flow from a rear portion of the outer surface of the helmet shell is functional in this helmet, the path defining body and the rear deflector being unified in the configuration.
Rodriguez et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,721, discloses an automatic illuminated helmet comprising at least one light source that is automatically activated by an activation device. The activation device is a pressure switch located within the helmet. In this design, as the switch contacts the user's head, the light source will be activated. Hence, when the helmet is worn, activation will occur. In an alternative embodiment, a photovoltaic panel is used to re-charge the power supply.
Shirai, U.S. Pat. No. 6,151,718, discloses a safety cap which is lightweight and excellent in air ventilating ability and is waterproof. The safety cap includes an air hole penetrating inner and outer walls of a cap body, a drainage channel provided along the inner wall of the cap body for discharging water coming into the cap body through the air hole to outside of the cap body, and a vent hole in an upper side of a cross section of the drainage channel perpendicular to the drainage direction. Alternatively the safety cap includes a drainage groove formed in the outer surface of a cap body and having a plurality of vent holes formed in the side walls thereof, wherein the drainage groove is covered with a cover body having air holes and also an edge section of the drainage groove is opened to an outside of the cap body as a drainage hole. And the safety cap is provided with a recessed portion on a surface of the cap body, wherein the recessed portion has vent holes respectively penetrating the inner and outer walls thereof, and the recessed portion is covered with a cover body having air holes and drainage holes provided at positions where the holes do not overlap the vent holes.
Chien, U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,271, discloses protective headwear having a hard-shell outer layer and a protective shock absorbing layer including at least one LED illumination arrangement fitted into recesses in the protective layer and visible through a partially transparent area of the hardtop shell in any desired pattern or combination of lighting elements, the illumination arrangement includes an optical member which serves to optically increase the viewing angle and at the same time deflect or distribute the force of impacts away from the LED and thereby decrease the possibility of LED penetration through the helmet and into the head of the wearer. A control circuit in the form of a multiple function integrated circuit controller in which the on/off times and sequences for individual LEDs is switchable, either by means of switches which can be operated by the wearer of the helmet, or during assembly by means of simple circuit components connected to appropriate input pins of the controller, so as to achieve any desired combination of special effects is provided.
Hurwitz, U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,467, discloses an illuminated protective hat including at least one eletroluminescent lamp secured to a shell of the protective hat, which is powered by a power unit housed in a power unit portion of the protective hat shell, where the power unit includes a rechargeable battery. A retrofit unit including at least one electroluminescent lamp and power unit portion, to retrofit existing protective hats with the electroluminescent lamp and power unit portion. Both the electroluminescent lamp and the power unit portion of the retrofit unit can be either permanently or temporarily secured to a protective hat.
Glatt, U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,947, discloses an illuminated safety helmet including a protective core and a first layer disposed on the protective core. The first layer is a substrate or an impact resistant shell. A plurality of light emitting diodes and traces for electrically connecting the light emitting diodes are disposed on the substrate or impact resistant shell. As such, when the substrate or impact resistant shell is disposed on the core, the light emitting diodes are automatically disposed around the protective core. The illuminated safety helmet also includes control circuitry for illuminating the light emitting diodes and a power source for powering the control circuitry and the light emitting diodes.
Johnson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,688,039, discloses that a safety helmet has a battery operated, flashing rear light for wide angle visibility and a battery operated front light with a narrow projected forward beam to light the path being traversed. The front light pivots about a horizontal axis with manual control to adjust the attitude or inclination of the beam to enhance its utility.
Chien, U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,358, discloses that a lighting arrangement for head-wear that is made up of several light emitting diodes mounted on a flexible plate. The flexible plate is one of the straps of the length-adjustable belt conventional provided at the rear of a cap. The strap on which the LED is mounted may be stitched to the rear of the cap in conventional fashion and used for length adjustment purposes or may alternatively by stitched to the side of the cap to be used solely as a mounting for the lighting arrangement.
Walker, U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,637, discloses that the present invention relates to an improved fireman's helmet which includes a surrounding wall structure that defines a head receiving area therein. Mounted within the head receiving area and recessed in the wall structure are front and rear light assemblies as well as a battery pack and control panel.
Heminover, U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,079, discloses an article of wearing apparel such as a rigid opaque hat which has light emitting diodes mounted therein for being viewed, the terminals of the diodes and the circuitry for controlling the same being concealed within the article of apparel or on the person of the wearer. Control circuitry includes an electronic clock which sends electric pulses to an electronic counter, the output of which passes through a decoder which controls which diodes are sequentially illuminated to create an illusion of motion for getting the attention of others or for providing a type of theatrical ornamentation for the user.
Sloan et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,112,383, discloses a pith helmet type of headgear with a vent at the top peak of the crown of the helmet.
The related art described above discloses hats and helmets of various types and clearly shows that it is know to add ventilation and lighting schemes for advanced utility. Such lighting is shown to be known to be used for illumination and for signaling. However, the prior art fails to disclose or suggest the present invention which is a modified standard hard-hat configuration with novel ventilation and lighting schemes. The present disclosure distinguishes over the prior art providing a ventilation strip with novel features and an electrical lighting circuit that provides unique capabilities critical to personnel safety under selected working conditions.